The present invention relates to apparatus for splicing together the ends of a sheet of material to form an endless loop and, more specifically, to such an apparatus which produces a cylindrical loop and accurately locates perforations or other features along an edge of the sheet in the area where the ends of the sheet are spliced together.
United Kingdom Patent Publication No. 2,188,280, published Sept. 30, 1987, discloses an apparatus for fabricating endless photoconductor belts from a web stock. The apparatus comprises a wrap station, a weld station and a discharge station. The web stock in sheet form initially is wrapped around a first mandrel located at the wrap station and held in place on the mandrel by suction applied from inside the mandrel. The web is severed at a point which enables the trailing end of the web to overlap the leading end, thus forming a complete turn on the mandrel. Then the first mandrel is conveyed to the weld station while a second mandrel is moved to the wrap station. At the weld station the overlapping ends of the web stock are welded together ultrasonically to form an endless loop of photoconductor belt. Then the belt and mandrel are advanced to the discharge station where the belt is removed from the apparatus. The belt fabricating apparatus is somewhat complicated due to the need for transporting mandrels between the various stations, and there apparently is no provision for providing exact positioning of features, such as perforations, that are commonly found on photoconductors.